Please help! A girl with very little car knowledge! VW Golf
Discussion
Hello! This is a long post! In summary - garage made a mistake when fitting new clutch and flywheel, car now reeks and is making me feel ill.
I drive a VW Golf - MK 5 1.9TDI
I wondered if anyone could advise me on something that has happened to me recently.
On Monday 12th March I had my car booked into a local garage to have a new clutch and flywheel fitted. (Car had been struggling to select gears, strange noise etc. and was told it needed a new clutch and flywheel).
All went fine, I collected the car that night and it drove perfectly, it felt like a new car.
The next day (Tuesday) my mum borrowed my car to go shopping and rang me shortly after she'd left to say that my car was smoking like crazy, a greyish smoke that smelt bad! She doesn't know much about cars so she phoned her partner who drove over to where she was (in a lay-by at this point) and he started the car but couldn't select a gear at all. So they left the car where it was and went home. At this point it was 5.35pm and the garage that fitted the car closed at 5.30pm! So annoying.
So the next morning at 8.30am my sister and I drove to the garage (checking on the car on the way to make sure it was still okay in the lay-by and it absolutely reeked of clutch!) so we arrive at the garage and I explain that I brought my car in yesterday and explain what had happened... The guy asked for my keys and said they don't offer a breakdown service but on this occasion they will drive out to the car and check on the problem... He told me he would ring me later in the day to let me know what has happened.
So I'm at home all day waiting for the phone call and by 3pm I still hadn't heard from them, so I call the garage and ask for an update, the guy on the phone says 'Ah yes, it turns out it was the gear selector (?) it was kind of our fault'. He didn't really say much else apart from they'd ordered a new part from VW and they would fit it and I could collect the car at 5.30pm.
(He also said they'd managed to drive the car back to the garage which is a 10/15 minute drive and after speaking to my mums partner he seems to think that will have done damage to the clutch, is that right?)
So at 5.30pm I arrive at the garage to collect my car and they say 'All done, it'll be fine now'. I didn't really ask many questions (which I know is silly but he was locking the garage up and getting in his own car and clearly wanted to go).
Anyway, the car still absolutely reeked and I drove home with all four windows down.
The next day the smell wasn't any better, so I went and paid for a £35 valet which didn't help at all. The smell wasn't getting any better by the end of the week so I called the garage and asked them for their advice and he said I could rinse the engine with a hose pipe? Is this a good idea?
So basically for the last week I have been driving everywhere with all my windows down trying to air the car out but it's now at the point where I can't bear to be in the car, I can feel it at the back of my throat when I'm driving and for the last few days I've had a horrible cough and sore throat.
I don't feel in a position to question the garage anymore as because I don't know much about cars I don't know whether what they're saying is correct.
After paying £750 for the work to be done I just feel a bit annoyed that now my car reeks from a mistake they made, and my new clutch may be quite damaged from the effects of the mistake.
What should I do? Is there anything I can do?
Should I go back to the garage to speak to them about it again?
So sorry for the long post, and thank you if anyone has any advice whatsoever.
I drive a VW Golf - MK 5 1.9TDI
I wondered if anyone could advise me on something that has happened to me recently.
On Monday 12th March I had my car booked into a local garage to have a new clutch and flywheel fitted. (Car had been struggling to select gears, strange noise etc. and was told it needed a new clutch and flywheel).
All went fine, I collected the car that night and it drove perfectly, it felt like a new car.
The next day (Tuesday) my mum borrowed my car to go shopping and rang me shortly after she'd left to say that my car was smoking like crazy, a greyish smoke that smelt bad! She doesn't know much about cars so she phoned her partner who drove over to where she was (in a lay-by at this point) and he started the car but couldn't select a gear at all. So they left the car where it was and went home. At this point it was 5.35pm and the garage that fitted the car closed at 5.30pm! So annoying.
So the next morning at 8.30am my sister and I drove to the garage (checking on the car on the way to make sure it was still okay in the lay-by and it absolutely reeked of clutch!) so we arrive at the garage and I explain that I brought my car in yesterday and explain what had happened... The guy asked for my keys and said they don't offer a breakdown service but on this occasion they will drive out to the car and check on the problem... He told me he would ring me later in the day to let me know what has happened.
So I'm at home all day waiting for the phone call and by 3pm I still hadn't heard from them, so I call the garage and ask for an update, the guy on the phone says 'Ah yes, it turns out it was the gear selector (?) it was kind of our fault'. He didn't really say much else apart from they'd ordered a new part from VW and they would fit it and I could collect the car at 5.30pm.
(He also said they'd managed to drive the car back to the garage which is a 10/15 minute drive and after speaking to my mums partner he seems to think that will have done damage to the clutch, is that right?)
So at 5.30pm I arrive at the garage to collect my car and they say 'All done, it'll be fine now'. I didn't really ask many questions (which I know is silly but he was locking the garage up and getting in his own car and clearly wanted to go).
Anyway, the car still absolutely reeked and I drove home with all four windows down.
The next day the smell wasn't any better, so I went and paid for a £35 valet which didn't help at all. The smell wasn't getting any better by the end of the week so I called the garage and asked them for their advice and he said I could rinse the engine with a hose pipe? Is this a good idea?
So basically for the last week I have been driving everywhere with all my windows down trying to air the car out but it's now at the point where I can't bear to be in the car, I can feel it at the back of my throat when I'm driving and for the last few days I've had a horrible cough and sore throat.
I don't feel in a position to question the garage anymore as because I don't know much about cars I don't know whether what they're saying is correct.
After paying £750 for the work to be done I just feel a bit annoyed that now my car reeks from a mistake they made, and my new clutch may be quite damaged from the effects of the mistake.
What should I do? Is there anything I can do?
Should I go back to the garage to speak to them about it again?
So sorry for the long post, and thank you if anyone has any advice whatsoever.
Not much to go on... but...
It probably wasn't the gear selector. If the gear stick flapped around like nothing was connected to it.. then mabey. But this is not the clutch.
Gray smoke and the stench of clutch suggests as you have figured. the clutch was tortured.
Either, your mum really is a crap driver and tortured the clutch.
Or, the hydraulic actuator was miss aligned and gradually pushed the clutch further out, giving a load of slip... torturing the clutch.
As for the smell, if it's in the fabric there is not much else you can do other than a deep clean. Pressure washing the engine bay is not a bad idea. So long as you know what you're doing.
Though to be honest, by the time you get a clutch smoking like that its pretty much finished with.
It probably wasn't the gear selector. If the gear stick flapped around like nothing was connected to it.. then mabey. But this is not the clutch.
Gray smoke and the stench of clutch suggests as you have figured. the clutch was tortured.
Either, your mum really is a crap driver and tortured the clutch.
Or, the hydraulic actuator was miss aligned and gradually pushed the clutch further out, giving a load of slip... torturing the clutch.
As for the smell, if it's in the fabric there is not much else you can do other than a deep clean. Pressure washing the engine bay is not a bad idea. So long as you know what you're doing.
Though to be honest, by the time you get a clutch smoking like that its pretty much finished with.
Thank you all for taking the time to read and reply!
So could the problem with the gear selector lead to the clutch being used improperly, therefore burning it and causing this stench?
My mum isn't the best driver but she's very (too) cautious and I don't think she'd rag the clutch around knowingly.
What would you do in my situation? 😩
So could the problem with the gear selector lead to the clutch being used improperly, therefore burning it and causing this stench?
My mum isn't the best driver but she's very (too) cautious and I don't think she'd rag the clutch around knowingly.
What would you do in my situation? 😩
Does the car now drive correctly with the replacement gear linkage? (no smoke, gears change correctly, etc)
If it was only driven in this state for a short time then I don't think there would be significant damage to the clutch. They can take quite a bit of abuse and I imagine she stopped as soon as the problem became obvious.
Getting smells out of car interiors is hard. I had an electrical issue on my car 6 weeks ago which caused a plastic plug under the bonnet to melt overnight. The burning smell remained very strong in my interior until this week, despite driving everywhere with the windows down over the last few weeks.
I certainly wouldn't be rinsing the engine with a hose pipe! This has the potential to cause expensive damage with electronics. Professional steam cleaning is possible but I doubt this would help much with clutch-related smells. Changing the cabin (pollen) filter may help if the smell has got into that, but it should clear itself over time assuming the original issue is now fixed.
If it was only driven in this state for a short time then I don't think there would be significant damage to the clutch. They can take quite a bit of abuse and I imagine she stopped as soon as the problem became obvious.
Getting smells out of car interiors is hard. I had an electrical issue on my car 6 weeks ago which caused a plastic plug under the bonnet to melt overnight. The burning smell remained very strong in my interior until this week, despite driving everywhere with the windows down over the last few weeks.
I certainly wouldn't be rinsing the engine with a hose pipe! This has the potential to cause expensive damage with electronics. Professional steam cleaning is possible but I doubt this would help much with clutch-related smells. Changing the cabin (pollen) filter may help if the smell has got into that, but it should clear itself over time assuming the original issue is now fixed.
It’s possible the garage mis-aligned the gear change mechanism so that when you thought you were selecting 1st and 2nd you were actually selecting 3rd and 4th etc. which would have meant a lot of clutch slipping when pulling away and driving at low speeds - I’ve known this happen on a Vauxhall Corsa.
It can take quite a while for a burnt clutch smell to go way, assuming that it’s not still slipping.
It can take quite a while for a burnt clutch smell to go way, assuming that it’s not still slipping.
If the smoke smell is really bad you could try hiring an Ozone generator machine. We used one in our house when we had a small kitchen fire and a really bad smoke smell got into everything in the house.
Hired one from a tool hire place for a few days, put it in each room for a few hours and it completely got rid of the smoke smell from everything, carpets, curtains, clothes etc...
Not too expensive to hire so might help.
Hired one from a tool hire place for a few days, put it in each room for a few hours and it completely got rid of the smoke smell from everything, carpets, curtains, clothes etc...
Not too expensive to hire so might help.
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